"One man's trash is another man's treasure"

The Roots and Shoots club at Jamesville-DeWitt High School is on a mission. During lunches, they are asking for your used chip bags and juice pouches. But why on earth do they want our trash?

TerraCycle, a company that says it is dedicated to "outsmarting waste," transforms the items into new purses, pencil pouches, folders, binders and all sorts of things. The cliché, "one man's trash is another man's treasure," is certainly true for this club, says J-DHS earth science teacher Rich Adler, former advisor of the Roots and Shoots club. "We redeem the trash you throw out, and they get changed into all sorts of things," he said.

TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky has a similar philosophy. "We don't see garbage. We see valuable raw materials to make amazing new products that are cooler, cheaper, and way more sustainable," he says.
For each chip bag or juice pouch redeemed to the company, two cents are returned to the non-profit organization or school of choice.

Last year, the J-DHS Roots and Shoots club collected roughly 1,500 snack wrappers and received about $30. Currently, the club has collected 291 chip bags and 831 juice pouches. According to junior Megan Clark, president of the club, "the box in the big cafeteria was so full to the point that people were stuffing their bags into there."

Want to help with the Roots and Shoots collection? "Just put your bags and pouches in the bins. It takes two seconds," says Clark. The club is collecting empty Frito-Lay and Nabisco bags, as well as Capri Sun, Kool-Aid and Honest Kids juice pouches. The company accepts other brands, but the J-DHS Roots and Shoots club is only involved in the chip bag, cookie wrapper, and juice pouch brigades.

Helping the club will not only earn Roots and Shoots a little cash, but it also prevents these wrappers from ending up in landfills polluting the earth. This is one of several projects the J-DHS Roots and Shoots club is working on. They also maintain the trees and flowers in the school courtyard and are working towards getting bike racks at school. This way, students and teachers will be able to ride bikes to school for exercise while reducing the amount of pollution emitted by other means of transportation.

Roots and Shoots is actually an international organization started by Jane Goodall, an activist for environmental issues. Clark says the club is devoted to bettering the environment and helping animals. Chemistry teacher and Roots and Shoots advisor Amy Boettger describes the club as being made up of "the funnest people in the school."

Roots and Shoots is welcoming new members Fridays in room R01. "Come check us out. We're fun, and there's no major commitment," said Ms. Boettger.
Mr. Adler offers some inspiration: "It doesn't take just one or two of us to save the planet. It takes everybody."